Bird Watching in Cerro Punta

I had some friends Terry and Chris Melcer from Sparwood B.C. come to visit on Tuesday and discovered that they had sold their house and were staying at a hotel.  I invited them out to stay at the house for a few nights until they left on Sat.  As a result I was taken to meet some friends of theirs, Gary and Yolanda Kohler.

During the course of our visit with Gary and Yolanda when I was telling them about my awesome camera that takes such good bird pictures Yolanda mentioned that the Queztals, a beautiful local bird resident of the highlands, were currently seen feeding daily in a tree at the trailhead of the Quetzal trail in a tree that has the berries that they prefer in their diet. Having had the privilege of seeing this rare bird once I was excited at the possible opportunity of seeing it again, this time with better photography equipment.  It was decided that we would go up on Friday.

We left the house at 6:30 as we were told to be there by 7:30.

Of course there are no guarantees that we would have a bird sighting but we were not to be disappointed.  It became clear very early on that this was not just a tree for feeding that day but that rather the birds were also in the process courtship.  There were 2 females and at least 4 males, possibly 5 or 6.  They flew in and out of the tree but remained there the whole time until we finally left at around 9:30.  What a show.  I had the privilege of may photo-ops and am thrilled to be able to post them.

Here is the trail that we have arrived at.  The tree to the right is where the birds were.

 At first the birds were just silhouetted.

After a bit a carload of people (fellow Canadians) arrived to hit the trail for a hike.  They stopped briefly to see the birds and take photos, other than that we had the venue to ourselves.

The Quetzal is an splendidly colored bird with metallic plumage and is widely considered to be one of the most strikingly-beautiful birds in the world.  They are most well known for the long tail feathers of the males which can grow to 3 feet in length. The males are really beautiful with their iridescent green/blue back and wings (depending on how the light hits them) and bright red breast not to mention the long tail feathers. My research tells me that the males do not begin to grow the tail feathers until they are at least 3 years old and do not reach sexual maturity until they are nearly 6. The bird itself is 14-16 inches long, weighs 7-8 oz and has a lifespan of 20-25 years.

This guy is preforming for the girls.  He is fluffing himself up...bigger is better, or so he thinks (typical male). The berries are what they like to eat which is the reason they go to that tree in the first place.

Here is his girlfriend she is much plainer.  Grey on the breast and lacking the long tail feathers.

And here he is together with her...not sure that she is impressed and in fact she appears to be bigger than him.

I am posting a couple of short video clips as well....***NOTE the melodious song in the background on this first clip.  This is just one of the sounds they make.